THE METAPHYSICAL STATUS OF THE FACE IN THE WORK OF EMMANUEL LEVINAS

Is the face a plastic image? Is it a sensitive object, a phenomenon? Although a phenomenologist, Emmanuel Levinas makes no attempt to grasp the phenomenal aspect of the face. Indeed, what is understood by the term "face" in the Levinasian device corresponds neither to the face, nor to a visible form. For Levinas, the face designates the mode of presentification of the Other, that is, the radical otherness of the Other. This way of apprehending the face necessarily leads us to consider the relationship to Others from a perspective that enshrines the irreducibility of Others to corporeality. Behind such an approach lies not only the fate of Western metaphysics, but also a new kind of ethics: one rooted in intersubjectivity understood as an asymmetrical relationship between the Same and the Other.

Autorentext
Arischel NGOMA MOUSSOLOSOLO OPIE holds a master's degree in philosophy. He is currently preparing a doctoral thesis on Michel Henry under the supervision of Professor Akanis Maxime AKANOKABIA, Maitre de conférences, Directeur de la Scolarité et des Examens de l'Université Marien NGOUABI .